Dine Originals 10 + Giveaway

The phrase “Dine Originals Week” has become synonymous with “date week” in my house. The best restaurants in the city offering discounted menus? Frugal romance at its finest. However, this year’s “Dine Originals Week” will not follow the familiar prix fixe format.

“We had a board retreat a few months ago to review the whole ‘restaurant week’ concept,” explained Katharine Moore, Executive Director of Dine Originals Columbus in an email. “Since we launched the first one five years ago, every Tom, Dick, and Olive Garden has come out with something similar. The calendar has gotten cluttered and the consumer a bit confused. Just as importantly, we realized that by imposing a three course/fixed price menu on all of our members, we were taking a cookie cutter approach, with is a very UN original move!”

Instead, this year’s “Dine Originals 10″ will feature 10 days of events, special menus and yes, still some discounted dishes. Plenty of drink-centric events are scheduled as part of the lineup. Here are a few of my favorites:

Reservations are highly recommended and, for some events, required. Call ahead for availability. Dine Originals 10 will take place March 11-20. More events and details are posted to the Dine Originals website.

DRINK UP COLUMBUS GIVEAWAY We’ve got a pair of tickets ($80 value) to Hubbard Grille’s Whiskey Wednesday event March 20! To enter, leave a comment telling us what event or special from Dine Originals 10 has you most excited. For a bonus entry, tweet a link to this post and use the hashtag #drinkupcolumbus. (You must first leave a comment on this post for your Tweet entry to be counted.) Contest ends at 5pm Thursday, March 14. Winner will be randomly selected and notified via email by 9am Friday, March 15.

My mom and I have mother/daughter dates during Dine Originals. We love having new culinary adventures, and going back to our safe bet restaurants, as well. She loves going to The Refectory and G Michaels is always my pick of the litter.

As a frequenter of Curio, barrel 44, Giuseppe’s Ritrovo, I find myself learning more and more about the fantastic local cocktail scene. I am always looking for more info on whiskey (scotch, bourbon, or otherwise). This event at Hubbard will be on my list for sure. Besides that, the OYO tasting looks great too!

Refectory brings out good selections for their tastings and done OYO tasting at their distillery. Never quite made it to Hubbard, but Whiskey Tasting must just be the thing I needed. Oh and also….DIRTY FRANK’S TEN DAY CHALLENGE, “Delified” Charcuterie Board at Katz, Roasted pig’s head and can’t miss Skillet. Can you tell I’m a foodie!